Alyssa’s Den

Alyssa and Zeab from Mission Wolf.

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   EYES

    Wolves have amazing senses, and they can see very well. They can see about the same as humans in bright light! Here are some facts about wolf eyes and their eyesight:

* Wolf eyes are usually brown, yellow, orange or a pale shade of green. A wolf’s eyes aren’t blue, which is a mistake people usually make. They are only blue when wolves are pups.

*  A wolf’s eyes are in the front if it’s skull.

*   Wolves have 180 degree vision.

*  Wolves can see movement out of the corner of their eye

* A wolf’s eye can show it’s mood by the pupil expanding or contracting.

* Wolves can’t see all colors, but some of the most distinctive are red, yellow, green and blue.

*  Wolf pups are born blind, but open their eyes when 11-15 days old

*  Wolf eyes can identify objects that are over 100 feet away.

*  Staring, to a wolf, is considered a threat.  It means you want to challenge them for their rank and status

There is a fun activity to do! Wolves can see very well in the dark, better than people can, which comes in handy when hunting prey at night.  It is especially helpful for wolves in Alaska, because sometimes there are 24 hours of darkness! You can test your “night vision” with a few colored index cards at night. Here’s how:

Stand in a dark room. Have your index cards in your hand. If you only have white, you can make them colored by coloring them so they are completely one color. You want to have a few different colors, or the experiment won’t work. Shuffle the index cards, and close your eyes. Take a random one out of the pile with your eyes still closed. Put the rest of the cards aside, and open your eyes now. Look at the index card in your hand. Do you know what color it is? Try to guess without turning on a light. Once you have guessed what color it is, and you really think you know, turn the light on and see if you were right. If you want, you can put that card with the other cards again, shuffle the pile again, and repeat the process. You can keep repeating this until you are finished the whole pile.  Which color was the easiest to identify?  Which was the hardest?

“ To look into the eyes of a wolf is to see your own soul-hope you like what you see.”  Aldo Leopold

Alyssa

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 TROPHIC CASCADE

  In 1926, the last wolf in Yellowstone was shot. But why? Some people have developed a fear and hatred for wolves, and they want to kill all of them. Their opinion about wolves isn’t based on science, though. Even though it sounds kind of silly, it is based on stories like Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs. Both stories have a “Big, Bad Wolf”, but in reality, wolves are big.  But are they bad?

      Once a major predator, such as a wolf, is taken out of the ecosystem, the whole thing gets thrown off balance. Wolves control ungulate populations, and without them to do so, their population will rise. Wolves keep an ungulate herd moving, and if they don’t move, they stay in one spot to graze. Ungulates, such as elk, like to eat small aspen and willow trees, and other vegetation that grows along the streamside. Without plants near the river, erosion happens. Erosion is when loose soil that isn’t anchored to the ground by plants is swept away by wind or rain. The soil didn’t really have a place to go other than into the river, so the river became shallower. Without aspen and willow trees to protect the river from the sun, the temperature of the water rose. Fish left the rivers and streams because the water was too shallow and warm. Beavers left because they also liked to eat streamside vegetation, and they used willow and aspen trees to build dams with. The elk that weren’t grazing by the rivers and streams ate the tall grasses that sheltered small rodents like mice and voles. The coyote population also went up because wolves control their population, too. They ate most of the rodents; they were easy prey because they couldn’t hide in the tall grasses. Birds of prey, such as hawks, eagles, and owls had to leave because they also ate rodents, and the coyotes ate most of them. This is called trophic cascade. Trophic cascade is when one major predator is removed from the ecosystem, and changes like this happen. This is exactly what happened in Yellowstone a while after the last wolf was shot.

  On January 12, 1995, 14 gray wolves were caught in Canada and brought to Yellowstone. They stayed in “acclamation pens”. These are cages that are about an acre, and wolves were kept in them for 10 weeks, so they didn’t go back to Canada and so they can form pack roles, because some wolves came without a pack.

  The government spent a lot of money on bringing them back to Yellowstone, but now they’re spending a lot to try to get rid of the wolves everywhere else. The trophic cascade in Yellowstone proved wolves are important, so why get rid of them? Because some people aren’t educated about the “real” wolf. They know about the fictional “Big, Bad Wolf”, but do they know about the “Big, Good Wolf”? The REAL wolf? That’s why we have organizations like Wolfwatcher, who care about wolves and try to educate people about them. But you don’t have to be a certain age or part of a certain organization to save a species. Saving a whole species of animals sounds like a really big, hard job, and it is. It’s important, too. If we all join together, and make our voices heard for those who can’t speak, we CAN save a species. There is power in numbers. Don’t let the howls stop. We have to save the wolves before it’s too late!

Alyssa

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Check out my video on wolves…

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     EARS

         Big Ears of the Red Wolf.                    Gray Wolf Ears

Wolves have very unique ears that can hear six miles away in the forest and ten miles away in the tundra.  Here are a few quick facts about wolf ears:

*Wolf ears are about two inches long.

*A wolf’s ear is rounded, unlike a coyote’s pointed ear.

*Wolve’s are born deaf, but begin hearing within a few weeks after birth.

*Red wolves have large ears to cool themselves off in the hot and humid climate of the south.

*The warm blood flowing around in the larger ears of the red wolf loses heat to the surrounding air.  When this blood returns to the body it is much cooler and in this way helps to keep them cool.

*A wolf ear can go to a 180 degree angle to hear a sound better.

*A wolf’s ears move independently of each other.

*You can sometimes tell how a wolf is feeling by looking at it’s ears.  if the wolf’s ears are back, the wolf could be frightened or showing submission.  If the wolf’s ears are forward, the wolf could be alert or saying “I’m the alpha”.  If the ears are relaxed, the wolf could be tired or relaxed.

* A gray wolf’s ears are smaller than a red wolf’s ears.

*Wolves are able to hear the heartbeat of small animals under the snow.

Alyssa

Junior Advocate

National Wolfwatcher Coalition

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Wolves need our help now more then ever. We need wolves back on the Endangered Species list!

Alyssa's Den

There used to be 200,000 wolves in North America.  Now fewer than 1,200 remain in the wild in the Northern Rockies. The Gray Wolf is fighting its way back from near extinction and its current population isn’t even half as large as it’s previous population. This is much too small a number for wolves to thrive and have great biodiversity.

Ranchers say that wolves are killing their livestock, but wolves are really only responsible for about 1% of livestock loss. Disease and harsh winters are the two biggest killers. And there are other predators, too. If you take out the wolf, then you will need to take out the bears, coyotes, cougars, eagles etc. to protect the livestock.   How can a single group of people decide what species to exterminate and which ones to keep? Think about a tower representing the ecosystem. Each carefully placed brick represents a species of animal. If you take away a brick, the whole tower could collapse. We share the Earth with these magnificent animals. It is not for humans to decide which forests to destroy, which species to eradicate, etc. These animals have inhabited these  areas for a countless number of years. It is the ranchers who are invading their territory. The Native Americans were able to peacefully coexist with all animals, so why can’t we?

Wolves are very smart. there are ways to keep wolves away from land without having to kill them. You can play sounds of howling wolves to keep them away – wolves are very territorial. You can also scare them with loud noises, moving things, etc. Most importantly, if you kill a wolf, how will it be able to bring the message to the pack that a certain area isn’t safe?

Hunters believe that wolves are responsible for there not being enough elk to hunt. There is a balance in nature that is always changing.  There has never been a case where predators have hunted out their food source to depletion.  Wolves aren’t always successful when they hunt.  Sometimes wolves are injured or killed when hunting their prey.  This is part of the balance.  Wolves keep the herds of elk moving which is a really good thing.  The left over carcass also provides food for many scavengers.

Some people might think I’m a vegetarian, but I am not.  And I’m not against hunting for food or other survival purposes either.  I have a lot of hunters in my family and may hunt too when I am older.  Some years we have venison on the table or in the freezer and sometimes we don’t.  They are not always successful because hunting is not easy and that’s how it should be.  We don’t have wolves in Rhode Island so you can’t blame their unsuccessful hunt on that.

Wolves belong long on this Earth and shouldn’t be irradicated just because people are misinformed or because of people’s fear of them.

Alyssa Grayson

National Wolfwatcher Coalition

Alyssa’s Den